Commercial real estate has long trailed its residential cousin when it comes to flashy marketing. A sedate artist’s rendering on a PDF is about as good as it usually gets.

But times are changing. In recent months, the developers behind some of Silicon Valley’s biggest proposed and under-construction office projects have latched onto Hollywood-style video production and custom iPad apps in a bid to attract tenants.

These high-end efforts don’t simply rotate a 3-D rendering or fly over a computer-generated building. They often include real-life actors, high-tech special effects and lifestyle imagery to help potential tenants picture not just the completed project, but also the general vibe of working in the building and in the neighborhood. And, ideally, they encourage potential tenants to sign on the dotted line. (Watch these videos here.)

“It’s very hard to visualize what something’s going to look like in a completed state,” said Janice Thacher, a partner with San Francisco-based Wilson Meany. “As the digital tools improve, people can use technology in such a way that tenants can really imagine what the environment is going to be like.”

Wilson Meany contracted San Francisco-based architecture visualization company steelblue LLC to showcase Bay Meadows Station, the office component of the 83-acre mixed-use “transit village” on the former San Mateo racetrack. The company also created an interactive iPad app that lets visitors check out every element of the planned community.

The developers are waiting for leases before starting construction, but in the video, a worker in a Caltrain car peers out a window as the project’s sleek architecture whizzes by — a way to show not only the design, but also how close it is to the coveted rail line. Casually dressed tech workers chat inside a hip, open-office interior. Nearby, a fixed-gear bicycle leans against a wall.

“Really what we try to do is get to the heart of the project and find out what’s really trying to be communicated,” said O’Brien Chalmers, president of 16-person Steelblue. “Then we craft a communication tool behind it.”

Those involved on the production side say the small touches are key. When Los Angeles-based design firm Kilograph was working on a video for Kilroy Realty Corp.’s 333 Brannan St. in San Francisco, executives spent a lot of time talking about what the actors should wear, said Keely Colcleugh, a partner with Kilograph. (The project just leased to Dropbox, though it only recently broke ground.)

“The company you’re appealing to already has a degree of visual sophistication,” said Colcleugh, an architect who started the visualization firm in 2009. “So you have to craft a marketing video that’s going to appeal to that sensibility and not just be a ham-fisted flyaround.”

For its video of Crossing/900, a 300,000-square-foot spec project under construction in Redwood City, Kilograph engaged an aerial photographer, hired actors and shot B-roll of the Peninsula streets. The completed video includes quick cuts of workers filing off Caltrain and images of Redwood City icons like the Fox Theatre building up to the project itself rising from the street grid.

“It’s really a great tool,” said Mike Sanford of Kilroy, which developed Crossing/900 with partner Hunter Storm. “If you take someone to the site, it might have crummy old buildings on it. How do you show them what it’s going to look like?”

But visualization technology isn’t just for new development. New York-based startup Floored turns CAD drawings of existing spaces into interactive visualizations to show prospective tenants how offices would look from any angle.

“What we’re finding is people love to explore the space virtually,” said Peter Alden, a co-founder and head of sales for Floored. “People can’t read 2-D floorplans. You need to show them what they’re going to get.”

Floored charges by the square foot – about $1 per square foot of visualized office space, though Alden noted that discounts are available based on project size.

The payoff, though, can be significant and difficult to calculate.

“It’s helpful even in getting city approvals,” said Sanford of Kilroy. “In different developments where we’ve gone in against others, one team will come in and lay plans on the table or put up some boards. We’ve come in with the videos. Looking at those different methods, it’s those videos that resonated.”